Ever since she learned to sew at age 8, Patria Ferragamo of Easton hoped she would be able to build a career around her passion for stitching and art.

Now, the 20-year-old Emerson College senior is realizing her dream, as costume designer for Emerson Stage’s production of “She Loves Me,” which opened Wednesday night and continues through this weekend.

Directed by Steven Terrell, the musical comedy is set in 1930s Budapest and highlights the tale of squabbling co-workers Georg and Amalia, who fall in love through an anonymous pen-pal relationship.

“This show is about normal, everyday people in the 1930s,” said Ferragamo. “You need to see what normal people looked like, not just movie stars. We’re interested in the peasants, not just kings.”

The costumes for the period production were a challenge.

“There are 436 individual pieces in this show, from tights to dresses to earrings, an inventory nightmare, but we made it work,” said Ferragamo, who was home-schooled through high school.

Her first project, in third grade, was to sew a colonial dress. Later, Ferragamo was inspired to combine her love for high school theater with the creativity of sewing and design.

“I remember watching the ‘Lord of the Rings’ bonus features, which talk about how intricate the costumes were, and I thought ‘I want to do that!’” said Ferragamo.

For the Emerson production, Ferragamo and her costume assistants researched the art of 1930s Budapest, including photographs, paintings and even apparel catalogues of the day.

“This was tough because a lot of the photos were destroyed during the time because of the Soviet occupation,” said Ferragamo.